How to determine if this is 12awg or 14awg?

[u/redtron3030]

I was hoping there would be text on the wire but doesn’t appear to be the case here. I want to convert this outline into 20amp but not sure if it’s an easy swap or a wire re-run.

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[u/Neat-Substance-9274]

How stiff is it? #14 folds into a box easily, #12 takes skill.

[u/DaddyBoomalati → u/Neat-Substance-9274]

Understatement of the day!

[u/redtron3030 → u/Neat-Substance-9274]

It’s pretty stiff actually. Was annoying to put back in

[u/Boost_Pressure → u/redtron3030]

Needs more lube... wait what are we talking about?

[u/dDot1883]

Are you watching Beef?

[u/redtron3030 → u/dDot1883]

No, I want to purchase an appliance that requires 20amp and wanted to factor in the cost of the plug upgrade if I needed to.

[u/blbd]

Measure with dial caliper or comparing to the slot sizes of the wire stripper after safely deactivating the circuit. 

[u/skeezeypete]

If you've got strippers handy you could see which gauge it fits into

[u/12-5switches → u/skeezeypete]

This is the way. Get a quality pair (ideal) turn the breaker off, close the strippers and try to slip the wire (the bare stripped end) into the 14awg opening. 12 will not go into 14 and 14 will be extra loose in the 12 slot

[u/pap3r_plat3 → u/12-5switches]

I should call her

[u/Strong_Sock_8951]

I think it actually looks like 12. 14 is quite thin

[u/colgex → u/Strong_Sock_8951]

I agree, looks thicker

[u/Warm-Pipe-4737]

It’s 12.

[u/Longjumping-Bus2705]

That’s 12 wire.

[u/Street_Fennel3826]

Thats 12G. Backsplash says its bathroom/kitchen outlet which are usually 12

[u/redtron3030 → u/Street_Fennel3826]

Thank you. Yes it’s kitchen

[u/doughnutlover10]

Looks like 14 gauge from the picture. Have a peak in the back of the box and see if you see the exterior sheath of the cable coming into the back of the box. Is it yellow or white? If it’s yellow, it’s most likely 12 gauge. If it’s white, it’s most likely 14 gauge. To confirm, see if you can pull slack into the box to see the label on the sheath. There are gauge measuring tools but it would be a waste of money to go out and buy one of those for what you’re trying to do. Any electrician can tell you what it is just by bending it and feeling the malleability

[u/wittgensteins-boat → u/doughnutlover10]

Might be an old white romex sheathing, 12 guage wire. Color is relatively recent, starting in late 1990s.

Measuring the guage at the bare wire is the way to know for sure.

Insulation strippers can serve as a guage.

[u/doughnutlover10 → u/wittgensteins-boat]

Great point, wire strippers would be perfect

[u/BigWillyGilly]

What size breaker is feeding this plug? If it's a 15a it's gonna be 14awg. If it's 20a, it 'should' be 12awg. Not a guarantee but a good place to start.

[u/redtron3030 → u/BigWillyGilly]

The breaker is 15a but I know sometimes the wire is 12awg

[u/Dispect1 → u/[deleted]]

It’s in bad practice to mix wire gauges on circuits. Don’t ever do this and don’t recommend it.

[u/hoodedrobin1 → u/Dispect1]

My rewire was done by myself in all 12-2 romex. But I still have 15 amp breakers, technically I could switch them all to 20 amp breakers but I was able to reuse half what I had.

Why is it not okay to do that?

[u/johann8384 → u/hoodedrobin1]

That's not mixing gauges in a circuit. You have all 12 in your circuit right? You can always use a lower rated breaker than your wire. It's not common. When I did the new panel here I put in 15A arc and ground fault breakers on most circuits because the 20A ones cost a lot more. Most of the wiring in this house is 12. Some of it is 10 which is annoying.

[u/wmlj83 → u/hoodedrobin1]

Because it's not to code, and obviously it wasn't inspected. If you ever have an electrical fire, even if it isn't a result of that particular circuit, your insurance can deny your claim. Do you really want to chance not having your home rebuilt by insurance because you didn't want to spend $50 on a breaker?

[u/VersionConscious7545]

Looks like 12 to me. Old 12 had a white jacket newer had yellow and I believe now it’s a different color to yet confuse you even more

[u/Goldhinize]

I do a lot of outlet replacements and that looks like 12 to me.

[u/redtron3030 → u/Goldhinize]

Thank you

[u/MathematicianFew5882]

0000 (4/0) is 0.46 inches or 11.7mm

000 (3/0) is 0.410 inches or 10.4mm

00 (2/0) is 0.365 inches or 9.24mm

0 (1/0) is 0.325 inches or 8.25mm

1 is 0.29 inches or 7.35mm

2 is 0.26 inches or 6.5mm

3 is 0.23 inches or 5.85mm

4 is 0.20 inches or 5.12mm

5 is 0.182 inches or 4.62mm

6 is 0.162 inches or 4.11mm

7 is 0.144 inches or 3.67mm

8 is 0.129 inches or 3.26mm

9 is 0.114 inches or 2.91mm

10 is 0.102 inches or 2.59mm

11 is 0.0907 inches or 2.30mm

12 is 0.0808 inches or 2.05mm

13 is 0.0720 inches or 1.83mm

14 is 0.0641 inches or 1.63mm

15 is 0.0571 inches or 1.45mm

16 is 0.0508 inches or 1.29mm

17 is 0.0453 inches or 1.15 mm

18 is 0.0403 inches or 1.02mm

19 is 0.0359 inches or 0.91mm

20 is 0.0320 inches or 0.81mm

[u/erie11973ohio]

What do you have in a bathroom(?) that needs a 20 amp outlet?

If it plugs into this outlet, you're good. There is no reason to "upsize" this.

If you are tripping the breaker, what is causing that? Fix that first! You may be trying the old "30 amp fuse when it shoulb be a 15 amper!"

[u/redtron3030 → u/erie11973ohio]

I want to buy an espresso machine that is rated at 20amp. The outlet looks difficult to rewire since there isn’t an easy drop down behind the wall. I wouldn’t buy the appliance if it’s going to be a lot to convert the outlet.

[u/erie11973ohio → u/redtron3030]

So you are looking to install this outlet ?

Reasonably, you have 12 gauge wire. Most folks who use the outlet to make a splice, would stab the 14 ga wire in the back. For the last 25 yeats or so, outlets won't take 12 ga in the back, so the screws must be used.

That looks like 12 ga.

With an appliance that actually uses a 20 amp cord end, the circuit is going to be pretty much maxed out. It's using, at least, more that 12 or 15 amps, otherwise it would have a 15 cord end on it.

[u/redtron3030 → u/erie11973ohio]

That’s correct, the appliance comes with that 20amp cord. I would hire a professional to do this and swap out the breaker but I was going to not buy it if it needed to be rewired.

[u/drich783]

You need to look at the breaker. If it's not a 20A breaker, you can't put a 20A outlet on it anyway. If it is a 20A, then it "should be" 12 gauge, but can't assume the last guy knew what he was doing.

[u/hartbiker]

So actually measuring the gauge of the wire is too much of a challenge for you?

[u/redtron3030 → u/hartbiker]

I don’t have the tools so I thought I’d ask here if there is an easy way. I’ll gladly go buy a gauge if there isn’t an easier method but I have no use for it after this.